Restaurant staff deliver fresh look

Staff at one of the borough’s McDonalds helped council officers give part of the town centre a much-needed refresh as part of its Keep Britain Tidy initiative.

A group of 14 volunteers from the McDonald’s restaurants embarked on the challenge to help the council maintain the flower beds and their efforts made a real difference to the appearance of the town centre square in Leigh.

2016 marks the sixth year of McDonald’s and Keep Britain Tidy’s ongoing partnership to help combat litter. This event is just one of a number of McDonald’s clean-ups taking place across the UK as part of Keep Britain Tidy’s anti-littering campaign, ‘Love Where You Live’. The campaign continues to encourage local communities to take action and work together to tackle litter in their area.

Local franchisee Lawrence Hilliker said: “I was really proud to see everyone come together and contribute to the Library Square event. It’s a key priority of ours to ensure that the local area is an enjoyable place to live, work and visit. As a business we understand the important role that we play in making the area a better place.”

Ann Joyce, the manager of the Bradshawgate restaurant, said: “I love organising these kind of events, and it’s great to see so many volunteers from McDonald’s who wanted to get involved in helping to create a place that everyone can be proud of. It is important that we all come together to help to look after our community and keep our town centre looking great.’’

Aside from larger litter events such as these, McDonald’s restaurants patrol the streets at least three times a day to collect all litter that has been discarded, regardless of its origin. Crew members across the UK cover a total of 3,000 miles each week on litter patrols, which equates to 150,000 miles a year and the distance of five marathons each year per store.

Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton said: “To win the war on litter everyone needs to work together, with businesses having an exciting part to play. McDonald’s Love Where You Live initiative, together with their day-to-day commitment to tackling the problem through their litter patrols and their ongoing support Keep Britain Tidy, is an example of how a business can make a real difference.”

Since McDonald’s began supporting the ‘Love Where You Live’ campaign in 2010, over 1,900 events and activity days have been organised by restaurant staff in the UK, involving over 57,000 volunteers. In England specifically, 2015 saw 269 events take place with a total of 11,371 people taking part.

In addition to the annual Keep Britain Tidy litter events and daily patrols, many restaurants have also now begun to get involved in events such as painting walls and replanting trees and flowers that improve local community areas.